


In the Bones

by LaughableLament



Series: Comment Ficlets [14]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Comment Fic, Gen, John's Journal, Non-Linear Narrative, Post-Episode: s12e03 The Foundry, Recreational Marijuana, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 11:19:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8530993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughableLament/pseuds/LaughableLament
Summary: Mary seeks peace with the life she’s lost, the only way she knows how: on the road, on the hunt.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anactoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anactoria/gifts).



> Written for [citrusjava's SPN 'Something Good Today' Prompt Meme](http://citrusjava.livejournal.com/309874.html) (cross-posted).

Mary runs her fingers over battered leather. Sam said the journal belonged to his grandfather, John’s father, though she’d never seen it before that night. Cried through a box and a half of Kleenex, reading his failures and struggles, lessons she’d learned with her ABC’s. She’d been so naï—

House comes into view again and her what’s-it, her, Uber driver meets her eyes in the rearview, losing patience.

“Just, slow down some, okay?”

“Listen, lady, if you’re stalking these people—”

“I’m not.” She stares out at the yard. Tree trunks, too thick for her memory and concrete steps, that iced up and nearly killed her and Dean both, the winter he was born. Mary silences the soft voice wondering… “I used to live in this house, is all. Just wanted to see what’s changed.”

The driver huffs but she doesn’t slow down much. “So where you been? If I’m not being nosy.”

“Paradise,” Mary blurts and winces.

“Well. What on earth brought you back to Kansas?”

Mary swallows. “Family.”

*

She’s in her element. Greasy spoon symphony of voices, dishes, sizzles.

“Yeah I knew Bobby Singer. Mean drunk. Pain in the ass sober.”

She’d found coordinates for Sioux Falls, city center, over and over. Picture stuck in the pages gave her Singer Salvage. Thrilled to discover 555-1212 still worked, not surprised it turned up nothing.

“That other fella though, Winchester?” Her waitress hands back the photo. “I dunno. Singer had a lotta shady characters come through that junkyard.”

Elsewhere, newsstand receipt, _Martin Wells_ in what she guessed to be Sam’s writing. They’d bought a paper and a pack of gum, right across the street.

“Can you give me directions?”

“You can Google Map it.”

“Nah.” _Whatever that means._ “I hate those things.” Mary figures that’s true.

*

She hesitates on the steps, lifts her hand to knock, balks. Behind the screen the main door opens.

“Well don’t stand out there in the heat, honey, come on in.” Missouri Moseley shepherds her into the parlor, same in every detail as the last time Mary’d been here. “Mary Cambpell.”

“Winchester.”

“M-hm.” Missouri takes a seat, gestures for Mary to do the same. “Back from the dead and back to huntin. Sure would make your daddy proud.”

“Missouri—”

“You know why.” Black cat bones rattle out of a velvet bag into a porcelain cup. “Every high-up in Heaven and Hell was moving against your family. Nothing I’da told you woulda mattered, and you’da lost those years raising Dean in peace.” Missouri passes the cup to Mary and covers her hands in red cloth. “Shake.”

Mary shakes.

*

County Sheriff’s truck rumbles up the drive. Lights flash and Mary kind of, puts her hands up. Blinks when a woman climbs out.

“Ma’am, you know this is private property.”

“Yes, yes of course. Bobby Singer was my uncle, and I—”

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” Sheriff shows a palm. “I knew Bobby Singer twenty years. Knew all his family and most of his, associates.”

Mary can’t help herself. “Did you know John Winchester?”

“Winchester?” The sheriff’s demeanor shifts. She studies Mary. “Who are you? And, you can tell me the truth. I know about… things.”

Mary hedges. “John was my husband.”

Brown eyes wide. “Are you a ghost?”

“Nope. Flesh and blood.” She tries to smile.

“But you’re…”

“Back from the dead.”

“Okay.” The woman nods, but stays wary. “Do, Sam and Dean know you’re—”

“They know.”

Sheriff stands down a notch.

“You know my babies?”

“I didn’t meet em until they were grown,” she says, “but yeah.” Handshake, tentative but, “Jody Mills.”

*

Missouri holds her hands. “Now, we turn this cup over right into the cloth, you hear me?”

“I remember.”

(Smoking hookah-loads off this coffee table. “I dunno what you talkin bout, girl. John Winchester is _fine_. For Wonderbread. Now flip.”)

Past and present Mary cast the bones. Her old friend _old friend_ covers her mouth; hands, thick nails, arthritic knuckles.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’s wrong.” Missouri stares. “Just, ain’t never seen this before. Mary, you’re free.”

*

“C’mere. Somethin you oughta see.” Jody cocks her head and takes off into a labyrinth of rusting hulks. Mary follows. “I kinda, keep an eye on the place since Bobby passed. Found this out here last summer.”

Jody leads to a storage building, sheet metal walls with a pitched roof. Corner of the concrete pad, two tiny handprints.

_S.W._

_D.W._

_1985_

Tears tumble down Mary’s face. She kneels, finger-traces the worn depressions.

“Bobby loved those boys like they were his own,” Jody says. “Best I can tell, they always had a home here.”

“Thank you.” Mary breathes.

“Wait here a minute.”

Mary doesn’t know how long she cries, there on her knees. Only pulls it together when she hears the sheriff’s footsteps.

“Coffee?” Jody hands her a thermos and a box of tissues. “I brought,” plaster of Paris, cardboard forms, “stuff to make an impression. If you wanna keep those.”

*

“You have arrived at your destination,” chirps the robot voice and Missouri cuts the engine.

“I still can’t believe that’s a phone.”

“You have one!”

“Which, I barely know how to use.” Mary taps at the screen, frowns. “Sam, tried to show me, too much, and… Hey shut up. I figured out Uber!”

Missouri laughs. Then, “You sure about this?”

“No.” Mary rolls her shoulders. “What… do you think we’ll find out there?”

“Alpha and Omega, or. The other way around,” Missouri says.

Mary eyes her. “Thanks, Obi-wan.”

“You’ll be pleased to know that’s still a relevant reference.”

“Are we doing this?” Mary leaves the car. Sun shines but she suppresses a shiver.

They pick their way between weed-choked headstones and toppled monuments. “Here,” Missouri says, and a bare patch stretches in front of them. Dip in the ground, perfect circle. “Sam gave his life here, and Dean did his level best to give his.”

Mary looks up, summer sky. Too peaceful, here, where the world was supposed to end. “I can’t do this, Miz.”

“Do what, honey?” Missouri slips an arm around her.

“Live! Now. Like this. My sons re-wrote Revelation. They’re… they’re legends. And they look at me like I’m some kind of mythical creature and if I’m their mother I guess I am, and I can’t handle it. John’s gone. And I—”

“John’s not gone.” Lace-edged handkerchief dabs at her face. “He’s alive and well in those two boys he raised.”

Mary takes the hanky. “Why did you bring me here?”

Missouri sighs. “Because, this is where destiny broke, where your boys broke it. And now…” Soft smile. “Destiny’s got no use for you anymore.” Missouri brushes hair behind her ear. “You can let go. Three of you build whatever kind of family you want.”

*

Jody leads the way back to the main drive. “Neighbor that called you in, said a car dropped you off. You need a ride back to town?”

“Yeah,” Mary says. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Matter-fact,” Jody gives her a long look. “Why don’t you join me for dinner? Meet my girls.”

“I don’t—”

“Aw, come onnnn.” Jody grins, but then. “Meet some of the people they’ve saved.”

(“You keep nosin in that book,” Missouri’d said, just before Mary climbed on the bus. “It’ll lead you where you need to go.”)

“All right,” Mary nods. “Thanks, Jody.”

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt: After leaving the bunker with John's journal, Mary ends up using it as a roadmap. She travels around, visiting the sites of some of the disasters Sam and Dean have been through -- and maybe meeting some of the people they've saved. It's not the same as getting to see her boys grow up, but it still helps. 
> 
> Big thank-you to citrusjava for hosting the meme! [Y'all check it out](http://citrusjava.livejournal.com/309874.html). :D

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Luke & John](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9042059) by [crowroad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowroad/pseuds/crowroad)




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